We cheated

Budapest Travel Blog

We made it! We finished our bike trip and arrived in Budapest two days ago. But I have to come clean. We were very tired the last day we were supposed to bike into Budapest, so we decided to take a scenic river cruise from Esztergom around the famous Danube knee to Budapest. Unfortunately we slept in a bit too long and the boat left without us! We still didn't feel like biking, so instead we headed to a nearby water park/spa and spent all morning hanging out in the pools, relaxing in the saunas and slipping down waterslides. We eventually took a train for the last 60 km into Budapest, but unfortunately it wasn't nearly as scenic as the boat trip.

Hanging out in Budapest

We've been hanging out in Budapest the last two nights. Our hostel here is quite unique. Although many people might like it there, it isn't really our kind of place. We are staying in the "Marley Room," which has a giant Bob Marley head painted on the wall. Bob Marley is watching... There is also a regular pattern of pot leafs painted around the perimeter of the room in case you had any kind of doubts about the kind of place this is.

We have been walking around Budapest quite a lot. We visited the Royal Palace, Fisherman's Bastion, Parliament, Heroes Square, the Chain Bridge and several large churches. The churches each had famous treasures in them. One, St. Stephen's Basilica, had the 1000-year old mummified right hand of Hungary's first king on display. Another church was showing off the crown of Hungary, with its famous slanted cross.

We really enjoyed our time in Budapest. It was beautiful by day, but apparently it is quite nice at night too. We were so tired from biking that we headed to bed pretty early most nights and only caught glimpses of the night scenes. Today we're heading back for another visit to Vienna, but we did a little sightseeing while we could. We caught a bus outside of town to a park full of communist-era statues that have been preserved. It was very entertaining and I enjoyed climbing all over the statues. Before we left, we made sure that we dipped our feet in the Danube, as we have been travelling with it for the last two weeks and this is the last time we'll see it (the Danube doesn't really exist in Vienna).

hey emu.who is that daper man in the photo with you? He looks quite worldly. I'm glad to see nathan is embracing facial hair. everyone in this part of the world is shaving it off to look like european football stars. when are you home?